Rio+20 - the short name for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 20 to 22 June 2012 - is a historic opportunity to define pathways to a cleaner, more equitable and more prosperous world for all.
Twenty years after the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, the UN is bringing together governments, international institutions and civil society representatives to engage them on concrete steps to reduce poverty while advancing social equity and ensuring environmental protection, three pillars that define "sustainable development".
It is up to all of us to build our future, so everyone should have a voice in Rio+20. That's why the UN Department of Public Information created the "Rio+20: The Future We Want" campaign. The campaign invites people around the world to share their visions on ways to build a future that promotes prosperity and improves people's lives without further degrading our planet's natural environment. This new platform engages everyone in a global conversation about their hopes, aspirations and ideas for the future.
How to participate? Write, talk, draw, capture!
We want to hear your ideas on what you believe your lives and communities should be like in the year 2030. All type of submissions can be sent:
What to talk about: Seven key issues and beyond
For the Rio+20 Conference, we are focusing on promoting seven issues that are key to sustainable development -- sustainable cities, resilience from disaster, energy, food, social equity and decent work, oceans and water. Fast facts and stories about each issue can be found on-line at www.un.org/futurewewant. Global conversation events on some of these issues can be held, for example, "The Future We Want for Water" or "The Future We Want for Cities", on a monthly basis or as a tie-in to specific dates before Rio+20, such as World Oceans Day on 8 June. We also encourage you to develop ideas and themes that are relevant to the situation in your particular community.
Questions to start your thinking about the future you want:
Your Community: Describe what you would like your community, neighbourhood or village to look like in 2030. Where do you get your energy and water? How will you deal with challenges such as public health, jobs, sanitation?
Your Culture: Name three things that are part of your current local culture, values and traditions that you want to see continue in the future. What three things do you most want to change?
Your Message: What would you answer if the leader of your country asked you: "Name one thing the world's leaders could do today to help us achieve a better tomorrow"?
Where/how to send your ideas?
People from all ages and all places are welcome to participate. Submissions can be sent individually or by groups in the six official UN languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Many of the 62 UN Information Centres and their partners around the world are collecting inputs in local languages, such as Japanese and Portuguese.
If groups of friends, colleagues, students, etc. wish to contribute collectively, you may want to hold your own Rio+20: Future We Want global conversation event.
One idea may be to partner with your local UN Information Centre, which can invite experts from across the UN system, as well as from academic institutions and civil society organizations. To find your local UN Information Centre and contact them about possible collaboration and language opportunitues, please visit: http://unic.un.org/factsheet/Default.aspx
If you are connected to the Internet, there are several options:
Inputs can be shared on Twitter using hashtag:
A few things to keep in mind:
How we will use your ideas
The best ideas will be used to create vivid videos and computer animations of communities in different parts of the world in the year 2030, which will be showcased on our website and incorporated in an exhibit displayed at the Rio+20 conference in June.
The visualizations will also be used worldwide after Rio+20 on a wide variety of platforms.
Additionally, the #futurewewant hashtag will feed an RSS display on the homepage of un.org/futurewewant and selected posts from followers will be featured on the UN social media accounts.
For more information, please visit: www.un.org/en/futurewewant
Or contact mediainfo@un.org
